Thursday, July 26, 2007

of Harry Potter - 7 , the Book

Thanks to the great response to my revie wof Harry potter Movie -5, i am inspired to write this review of Potter 7 the book.... am not a literary great or a wizard with words , but what qualifies me for this is the fact that i have read a book and have an opinion about it ..... And this is my blog so i publish my opinion here ....

To start of Harry potter does not dies in the book, nor does Dumbldore comes back to life .......... this might be the most publicly known secret by now .... Ok now back to the book.... It starts where Book 6 left off, that is the war .... lots of swish swoosh of wands, black magic, counter curses, deaths etc etc .... But the biggest difference is the fact that there is no Dumbledore to direct harry to sucess or to protect him .. but the boy wizard who has come of age continues on his mission of finding Horocruxes .... He has his loyal friends Hermoine, Weasleys, Order , Dumbledore's army etc by his side ...

The twists and turns and side kicks in the book are a plenty but the book does well in not deviating from the main chase....

All potter fans will be delighted for the fact that he fights well, thinks well and most of all keeps his head firmly on his shoulders .... His emotions are well drawn out at every stage and the books grips the reader almost through out ... there are very few places where the pace slackens .....

All the twists, side plots , emotions culminate where it all began the HOGWARTS.... after a fiery battle the good triumphs over the evil and Harry is victorious ....A fitting finale to the grand tale .... ofcourse itis not without its own twist and turns ...

Deaths are a plenty but one can argue that no one of real consequence dies :)......

So all those who dont know what to do this weekend and have read book 6 , can pick up the book 7 and for sure they will finish it over the weekend ..... And those who have not read Book 6 .... grab that first

TDLY- Sitting at home :)

Thursday, July 19, 2007

of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam

Today is the last day in office for the man who showed a country of Billion people how to dream...the father of modern india ...the father of Nuclear india ...a country that has reached moon, is capable of launching satellites on its own, a country that has the might to ask for a permanent seat in UN security council.... all due to the leadership of this one great scholar, scientist and visionary....

Every time i heard him or saw him speak, my heart was filled with joy and pride that my country is represented by a man of great abilities, a man who rose from humble background to reach the President's house.....

watching Indian president shall never be the same again as now on the president shall not be someone who is respected world wide or has the thought process that resembles billion of his country men.... Dr kalam was a strong leader who did not play into the hands of ruling party bu actually went by his instincts and work ethics....

Its sorry to see him leave without a worthy Sucessor....

My Salutes Dr Kalam....

TDLY : Ah... nothing much just making plans to go home ..

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

of North South divide ....

This only happens in India ....
the country is so vast that when people travel from one part of the country to another they are in for the shock of their life .... People who live in north just cant adjust down south and vice versa.. ofocurse there are many exceptions too where in people have lived happily in both parts , me being one of them.....

The key lies in not comparing the two but in ejoying the differences... its true that roti sabji is very costly down south but then idlis and dosas arnt cheap in delhi either .... As they say "when in rome do as the romans do " so when down south eat curd rice, dosas, idlis .... and if you carve for rotis then eat Andhra food which is awesome .....

things like weather, culture, language etc are all peculiar to a region and no one can control them so no point in cribbing about them ......

The bottom line is Enjoy ..... After all Mc'D .. dominos etc are there anywhere and everywhere :)

TDLY : Its all about having fun at gurgaon .....

Monday, July 16, 2007

of harry potter movie -5

Harry Potter has grown up !!!!
This was the message that the 5th movie (Harry potter and the order of phoenix) had.
So all those who go the movie please do not expect cute potter, funny magic tricks, Quidditch games, Potter's spat with Malfoy and professors etc etc that make these movies so adorably cuteee......

So what to expect?? A barrage of emotions like anger, frustation, confused thoughts, helplessness etc.... Along with it some dark magic, answers to many questions and ofcourse few other questions ...

Essentially it deals with the divison of the magical world into two groups- the one led by Harry and Dubledore that tries to warn every1 that Voldemort is back and the other one led by the Minister of Magic and his adrent follower Umbridge who try to ignore the fact that anything has happened and potray Harry and Dumbledore as cukoos....
In am attempt to gain supremacy the later group interferes with Hogwards in form of Umbridge as the Professor, then a High Inquisitor and ultimately the Headmistress...

In the mean time there is struggle between Dumbledore's Order of Phoenix and Voldemort's death eaters for a prophecy which will make Voldemort understand what went wrong last time he attacked harry....

So is it better than previous movies? Definetly as it goes deeper into the gravity of the battle and moves it from child's play to a full fledged battle that means life and death ...
It is more complex that the previous ones where a lot many characters are not even introduced, they are just there as either Harry supporters, Minitry suporters or Death eaters ....

It may be frustating for those who have not seen the previous versions as they will face barrage of faces, spells and incidents that they are supposed to know .... Also may be frustating for gals who want to see harry do his tricks, Ron do his goof up and Hermoine act up smarty pants and terrible for those who watch it for Harry and Cho's love affair and kiss... There is nothing to suggest Harry is intrested in CHO except for few lloks, one dialogue and a kiss.....

Those who have read the book may find the movie deviating from the actuals, but would only marvel the way director (and script writers) have adapted the 993 page book to a 2.5 hours movie ...

the few shortcomings of the movie are 1) the fact that it shorplays the Weasleys ... they are a lovable lot and are under utilised.. 2) The fight sequences and the magical mysteries during the climax do not match upto the expectation 3) A few more questions could be raised (like Harry's fathers Bully nature, effect of belatrix's release, safety at Hogwarts and outside that Voldemort is able to acess Harry's thoughts at will etc etc)

All in all a good movie to watch if u follow the series and remember what has happened till now .... and are ready to be set up for what lies ahead........

TDLY: Shifted to the new room and enjoying the emptiness

Friday, July 13, 2007

of the movies and books

Its very interesting debate ... Is reading books better of watching movies (based on these books )better ??? not in terms of time pass or hang out but in terms of understanding the movie/book/plot whatever .....

PPL who cheer for movies say that movies give u visualization, it gives faces to the characters and also gives u an interpretation of the book

PPL who swear by Books say that books give u imagination, it gives you the liberty to give faces to the characters and also lets you make your own interpretation of the book

Heres my take ... Watch movie first and then read the book ....
trust me have done for many books like forest gump, Harry potter etc etc
This has helped me extend the directors visualization and couple it with imagination to get a better picture (literarily and figuratively speaking ). I also realise how pathetic representaion of the book, these movies were ... but then may be i enjoyed the book lot more only due to the fact that i was able to give face to each name....

Anyway cases where i read the book first and then saw the movie (Da vinci code, Day of the jackal) , at all places somehow the movies did not live upto the expectation ....

ps: i know all the cases of option II were mysteries where by reading the book, i had killed all the suspense .. but still i stick to my opinion

ps2: all this started coz i want to finish Harry porter and order of phoenix in 3 days before i watch the movie :)

ps3: this one is just to show like Sony i have 3 PS (play stations)
bad joke

TDLY: Just another day in the office .... started to have open fights with new boss

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

of nothing to write .

Plz refer to my eralier post where i wrote about how Blogging is directly propotional to no work at office .... lets look at the personal aspects...........
1. I blog when i am sad or frustated and use the post as a medium of venting out the frustation ...
2. The only topic i have written about when i am happy is "of nothing, doing nothing etc etc"

So to generalise most people use blog as a medium to express views which are generally sad or shocking and when happy they post garbage :)

TDLY: Started working at TCS Gurgaon, and started to appreciate ki naye boss se "Nahi jamegi "